Frontiers in Oncology (Sep 2022)

Cost-effectiveness analysis of metronomic capecitabine as adjuvant chemotherapy in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

  • Longjiang She,
  • Kun Tian,
  • Jiaqi Han,
  • Weihan Zuo,
  • Zhu Wang,
  • Ning Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2022.904372
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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BackgroundAdding metronomic capecitabine to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) brings failure-free survival (FFS) benefits to patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study assesses the cost-effectiveness of metronomic capecitabine in locoregionally advanced NPC.MethodsWe created a Markov model to calculate the expense and health outcomes of metronomic capecitabine compared to those observed in locoregionally advanced NPC. Related costs, like life-years (LYs), quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effective ratios (ICERs) were measured at a willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of $33,585 per QALY. A combination of different sensitivity analyses was used to test for model robustness. Additionally, a subgroup analysis was also performed.ResultsIn contrast to what is observed in the locoregionally advanced NPC, adding the metronomic adjuvant capecitabine yielded an additional 1.11 QALYs with an incremental cost of $10,741.59, which obtained an ICER of $9,669.99 per QALY. The result of one-way sensitive analysis indicated that the utility of FFS, progression disease (PD), and the cost of follow-up were the most significant factors. The probability of metronomic capecitabine being cost-effective was 97.1% at a WTP of $33,585 per QALY.ConclusionMetronomic capecitabine as adjuvant chemotherapy is a cost-effective strategy for locoregionally advanced NPC patients.

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